Real Food / Vendor Cart Hot Dog Photoblogging

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Smoke Monster

Glenn Beck, center, holds hands with faith leaders at the "Restoring Honor" rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Most readers of this blog know that I tend to shy away from topics everybody else is writing about, but I just can't help but be fascinated by Glenn Beck's recent transformation into... well, into what, exactly?

The striking thing about his rally on Saturday was its religiosity, so overt and yet so vague! It was like Beck and associates were conjuring some kind of nebulous God Cloud which, as soon as you try to grasp it, dissolves into vapor (but covers you with its mist).

My friend Steve and I used to enjoy talking about what we called Generality Theory, a process in which slogans and language become so meaningless that assertions are effortless and objections impossible. Coke is it! What is it? It's the real thing. OK!

And so it is with "restoring honor." Sounds good!  What does it mean? It means whatever the listener wants it to mean! See how that works? The same goes for the amorphous religiosity, so misty, so fuzzy that it can encompass any belief system, from agnostic to fundamentalist.

This last bit is important, because Beck is, of course, Mormon, so the more nebulous, the better for him, particularly given the Christian right wing's misgivings about the Latter Day Saints. Mitt Romney could learn a thing or two from this guy!

I've written before about how the Tea Party crowd contains an incipient conflict between the Libertarian types and the religious types, always threatening to bubble up and destroy the movement. And that, Pony Pals, is a big part of what Beck's rally was all about (besides promoting Glenn Beck to Godhead): smoothing over this potential conflict with the meaningless salve of "restoring honor."

Pretty clever! I must say, I'm impressed.

Edit – Of course, not everybody on the Christian right is ready to accept Beck as their lord and savior. Read this editorial at One News Now and you can just feel the exasperation: don't fall for it! Don't listen to the Mormon!

UPDATE – Ruth Marcus, of all people, reaches the exact same conclusions in her take on the event.

Meet Ricky Rebel: Interviews, Part Three, 1995

Here's the third section of interviews with Rick Rebel from our 1995 one-off "Satan Brand Magazine." Part one is here and part two is here. Enjoy:

I really wish I had stuck with the plan to interview Rick about his childhood. I'd still like to do so! I've kinda been hoping that publishing all this stuff on PSP would bring Rick back out of the woodwork, but no luck thus far.

This has been the final part of the interviews I conducted with Rick, but there's more to come from Satan Brand Magazine, including a totally fun board game (!), and, of course, more cassettes. Stay tuned!

And also, isn't this ridiculous, cartoony "Satanic" stuff a good antidote to Glenn Beck's sappy Christian thing on the Mall this weekend?

Seems About Right

Photo via John McCain's Twitter.

Ugly Tour Bus Photoblogging: Drive By

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I had to snap this one in a panicky hurry. Worth it!

Vendor Cart Hot Dog Photoblogging Continues Apace

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I like this new series! There are more to come.

Sparkle Pony Flashback: March, 2005

My favorite report about Mehlman's coming out is CNN's, where they say that, oh, all the hairdressers are welcoming him with open arms, and then they proceed to quote one –one– hairdresser, from GOProud, natch, doing so.

Well, here's a sampling of other hairdressers welcoming Ken into the fold:

• Blogactive: "Let's not let him get on the gravy train of gay love."
• Joemygod: "Are you feeling very forgiving right now? ARE YOU?"
• Pam Spaulding: "...it's really hard to forgive him for the damage he did to the community by working actively against it for pay for years."
• Michelangelo Signorile: "A dreadful person."
• Queerty: "America's most heinous homosexual."

For what it's worth, here's my official response: What a jerk. Shun him.

Meet Ricky Rebel: Two More Drawings, 1995

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More Ricky Rebel blogging, yay! Here are two more ballpoint pen on construction paper drawings Rick gave me in 1995. If you're a newcomer to this series of posts, click on the "Ricky Rebel" topic tag below.

OK, I'm Up & Running Again

So! Thousands of dollars later, I'm back. The way I put it to my boss was, "The bad news is that I have to get a new computer. The good news is that I get to get a new computer!"

But anyway, back to blogging 'n' stuff. Here's a quickie: I'm glad that David Weigel is blogging about Republicans, Teabaggers and Right-Wingers again, this time at Slate. And I noticed something funny! His logo is so great:

Do you get it? It's a tiny tent! As in the opposite of a big tent. I'll say!

Five Out Of The Six People In This Photograph Are In On The Joke

The pic above of Blago at the Chicago Comic Con comes via Talking Points Memo, but they don't credit the source (tsk).

But anyway, that's Blago posing with a gaggle of "Suicide Girls." What fun! I'm sure they used the magic words: we looooove your hair! And his hair is still terrific! And so are his jeans! And shiny black shirt! Oh, Blago, you make such a better celebrity/found object than you do a politician. Please don't ever go away. This is when it actually doesn't hurt to remember that there is an endless, endless supply of d-list television reality shows, because –too dumb to be a pundit and too uninterested in subjects other than himself– this will be Rod's venue from now on.

Bonus points to the black-haired Suicide Girl for "doing a Lynndie."

Today In Ugly Tour Bus News

Hostages peer through the window as negotiators add more fuel into the tourist bus where former Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza has taken hostage foreigners at Rizal Park Monday Aug. 23, 2010 in Manila, Philippines. Mendoza, a dismissed policeman armed with automatic rifle, seized the bus in Manila Monday with 25 people aboard, mostly foreign tourists in a bid to demand reinstatement, police said. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Vendor Cart Hot Dog Photoblogging: Slight Return

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Photoblogging: Construction Workers Channel Stuart Davis

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Next From The GOP

Please Stand By...

Ohhhh... I'm having woes with my big computer right now, so I'm using my little computer, which isn't as much fun. So probably you should expect light to nonexistent posting for a few days. Sorry about that!

Kernel panic! It sounds like a neat game, but it isn't!

UPDATE – Failed logic board = new computer on order! Tsk. 

Meet Ricky Rebel: "Rock 'n' Roll Is A Drag" 60-Minute Cassette

Is anybody listening to these? Admittedly, the descriptions of the earlier two cassettes I posted don't make them sound too promising. This one is different, however, recorded in Seattle in 1996. "Rock 'n' Roll is a Drag" is much more sophisticated, featuring electric guitar, keyboards, drum machine, and even some double-tracked vocals. Now, when I say this tape is "more sophisticated," don't take that to mean that it is, in fact, sophisticated: technical issues abound, the instruments are overmodulated, etc. Still, it's quite a step up from his San Diego recordings.

And it's a lot of fun! There are 22 songs, and it really rocks. Two songs, "Coma" and "Satan's in My Underwear," are as good as anything produced in the 90s. Other titles include "You Bitch-Slapped Me Real Hard," "Killing the Spirit of Jim Morrison," "I Still Love You, You Fuckin' Jerk," and not one, but two songs about stalking Eddie Van Halen. It starts getting repetitive at the halfway mark, but if you are curious at all about Ricky's music, this is the one to check out. Here's the inside cover:

Here's the front of the song list (click both for bigger):

And the back:

Again, I really recommend this tape! The mp3 files weigh in at 173mb and are zipped up and available for download here.

Junk Drawer: More Random 3D Postcards

Vendor Cart Hot Dog Photoblogging Marches Triumphantly Forward

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Meet Ricky Rebel: Two More Drawings, 1995

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Meet Ricky Rebel: "The Nite David Hasselhoff Raped Me" 60-Minute Cassette, 1995

Rick Rebel, probably 1996, probably St. Louis, photographer unknown.

Whoah, OK, this tape is esoteric even by Ricky Rebel standards. It's another 1995 recording featuring Rick in his fleabag hotel room. Unlike the last one, though, this unique tape includes, in addition to him playing his guitar and singing songs about Satan and celebrities, long stretches of flipping though the TV, playing records at the wrong speed, listening to his neighbors argue, and the relentless ticking of a clock. On side two, noise from adjoining rooms gets louder and louder. If you listen to this tape all the way through with your eyes closed, you can experience what it's like to actually be Rick Rebel for an hour. It's unsettling. It's excellent. Here's the unfortunately artwork-free cover (click for larger):

I didn't index the tracks because of the stream-of-consciousness nature of this tape, but just left it at "Side 1" and "Side Two." The 92.6mb mp3 files are zipped and available to download by clicking here.

Click the "Ricky Rebel" topic tag below for more info, artwork, etc.

Fashion Victim: More "Word Knits," Circa 1970-75

Two cotton/poly knit fabric t-shirts, makers unknown. Click for bigger.

Here's two more excellent examples of the short-lived "word knit" trend of the 70s (previous example here).

I love striped t-shirts and "surfer shirts" from the 60s and 70s. They're usually easy to spot in thrift stores, but you've got to scan thousands of bland shirts to spot just one winner. The best ones tend to come from lower-caste department stores.

A really good patterned t-shirt can be a great alternative to wearing a tie.

Meet Ricky Rebel: Two Drawings, 1995

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PSP's retrospective of the work of Rick Rebel continues with two ballpoint pen drawings. One thing I love about Rick's drawings is that he always feels a need to fill up all the available space. In Art History parlance, this is known as horror vacui, and it is often a hallmark of so-called naive or "outsider" artists.

Meet Ricky Rebel: Interviews, Part Two

Originally "published" in Satan Brand Magazine, 1995, San Diego.

More about Rick Rebel! I'll add some explanations between the scans. See here for intro and here for part one of the interviews.

Above: here's a link to Perry Vasquez, another 90s San Diego friend of mine. Below, when Rick Rebel says that "I'm spewing spew blood all over my face," he is referencing his favorite gag prop: foaming blood capsules. He used them all the time. He loved anything that would make him foam at the mouth:

By all means visit Baby Sue. Rick and I included their "Jesus Hates Stupid Homosexuals Like You" pamphlet in Satan Brand Magazine.

Rick did, indeed, later make several "Satan Lite" tapes. They feature him singing hilarious Satanic lyrics while listening to instrumental easy-listening albums of pop hits.

Rick claimed to have had several run-ins with various members of Stone Temple Pilots at the restaurant he worked at. It was always hard to tell if Rick's stories were real or just really good storytelling. I didn't care either way.

More Stirring Vendor Cart Hot Dog Photoblogging

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Ugly Tour Bus Photoblogging: Action!

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